(4/7) Tottering Intelligence

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Begampur–Worldwide, 7 March 2021, part 4

ভজহুঁ রে মন, শ্রীনন্দনন্দন,
অভয় চরণারবিন্দ রে ।
দুর্ল্লভ মানব- জনম সৎসঙ্গে,
তরহ এ ভব সিন্ধু রে ॥১॥

bhajahu re mana, sri-nanda-nandana,
abhaya charanaravinda re
durlabha manava- janama sat-sange,
taraha e bhava sindhu re [1]

‘Dear mind, serve the fearless holy lotus feet of the Son of Nanda. This human life is very rare, so cross this ocean of material existence by spending it in the association of saints.’

(Sri Govinda Das)

It is very rare to get this human body!

দুর্ল্লভ মানব জন্ম লভিয়া সংসারে ।
কৃষ্ণ না ভজিনু দুঃখ কহিব কাহারে ॥

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare
krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

‘I have got a rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Who shall I tell about my misery now?’

সংসার সংসার করি মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

samsara samsara kari michhe gela kala
labha na haila kichhu ghatila janjala

‘I have wasted all my time on material life and family and have got nothing but garbage as the result.’

কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি বৃথা দিন যায় ॥

kisera samsara ei, chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

‘What kind of life is this? It is only a trick, a show. I have wasted time taking this world and the people around me in it as my own.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খ্যকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

‘There are 900,000 aquatic species; 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities (trees, plants, etc.); 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles; 1,000,000 species of birds; 3,000,000 species of beasts; and 400,000 species of humans.’

(Sri Padma Purana, Sri Vishnu Purana)

After 8,400,000 species you have finally got this human body, and you have also got good association – you have got a bona fide guru, our Gurudev! But even though you have already got all this, you still need to practise.

It is necessary to practise and to have patience. We sometimes lose patience, thinking, ‘Oh, I took initiation thirty years ago!’ Thinking in this way, we start reducing and slacking our practice. Having got this rare human birth, you can cross the Viraja River and come to your real home. How? By spending this life in sat-sanga, good association.

How much we are struggling! Winters and summers come and go, and we are suffering so much from heat, cold, rain and all other problems. This is how our days are passing.

শীত আতপ, বাত বরিষণ,
এ দিন যামিনী জাগি রে ।
বিফলে সেবিনু, কৃপণ দুরজন,
চপল সুখলব লাগি’ রে ॥২॥

sita atapa, vata varisana,
e dina yamini jagi re
viphale sevinu, krpana durajana,
chapala sukha-lava lagi’ re [2]

‘Day and night I stay awake, suffering from the cold and the heat, from the wind and the rains. For a moment of fickle happiness I have been uselessly serving misers and rascals.’

(Sri Govinda Das)

We are struggling so much serving others in vain. Who do we worship? Who do we serve? We serve material life (samsara)!

গর্দ্দভের মত আমি করি পরিশ্রম ।
কার লাগি’ এত করি না ঘুচিল ভ্রম ॥

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama
kara lagi’ eta kari na ghuchila bhrama

‘I have been toiling like a donkey. Who am I doing all this for? But I still continue deluding myself.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

For whom and for what do we struggle so much? We will have to leave everything here – money, wealth, house, everything. One day, we will leave everything and go to the cremation ghat.

শ্মশানে শরীর মম পড়িয়া রহিবে ।
বিহঙ্গ পতঙ্গ তায় বিহার করিবে ॥

smasane sarira mama padiya rahibe
bihanga patanga taya bihara karibe

‘My body will be dropped at a crematorium, and birds and insects will heartily enjoy it.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You keep saving what you earn, but you must spend what you earn on the Lord, on the service to the Lord and devotees. Some people tell me, ‘Why do you build so many big buildings? You have already made so many buildings at the main temple, and you had to leave it! Now you are again making another building!’ What must I do with the money then? Hoard it? I make buildings so that devotees can come and stay there; otherwise, where will they go? Besides, I did not leave the main temple of my own accord – they removed me from there forcefully. They wanted to kill me, this was their plan, but it is the Lord who gives us lifetime, so they could not do it.

শীত আতপ, বাত বরিষণ,
এ দিন যামিনী জাগি রে ।
বিফলে সেবিনু, কৃপণ দুরজন,
চপল সুখলব লাগি’ রে ॥২॥

sita atapa, vata varisana,
e dina yamini jagi re
viphale sevinu, krpana durajana,
chapala sukha-lava lagi’ re [2]

‘Day and night I stay awake, suffering from the cold and the heat, from the wind and the rains. For a moment of fickle happiness I have been uselessly serving misers and rascals.’

(Sri Govinda Das)

Why must we be misers? For the sake of your so-called relatives who are all disguised dacoits (svajanakhya-dasyu)? They call me and ask, ‘Why do you not answer my call?’ They are disguised dacoits, that is why. They look like relatives, but in fact they always suck your blood. You know, if the husband gets pension and dies, the wife will get his pension after his death; he does not get free even after his death – she will be taking his pension (sucking his blood) even after his death! Who do you do so many things for? No matter what we do, our illusion does not go away; instead, we are only losing our intelligence.

এ ধন যৌবন, পুত্র পরিজন,
ইথে কি আছে পরতীতি রে ।
কমল দল জল, জীবন টলমল,
ভজহুঁ হরিপদ নিতি রে ॥৩॥

e dhana yauvana, putra parijana,
ithe ki achhe paratiti re
kamala dala jala, jivana talamala,
bhajahu hari-pada niti re [3]

‘What is there in wealth, youth, sons and family? Life is tottering like water on a lotus petal. O mind, eternally serve the feet of the Lord.’

(Sri Govinda Das)

When girls are young, everybody looks at them, but when they get old, nobody looks at them. So, wealth, youth – all this will go, you will not be able to take anything with you. If you have money, everybody else will spend that money after you – and if you have no money, nobody will stay by your side in the end. Have you ever seen a Muslim funeral? So many people come there! When a poor man dies, not even four people come, but when a rich man dies, two hundred people will come to eat, feast and drink wine at his funeral, and they also bring goats with them! I have seen it in Nabadwip. They go to the cremation ghat with goats by their side: they kill them after the cremation and eat that meat.

What for are you struggling so much? Have you seen drops of water on a lotus? They totter, totter, and as soon as some wind blows, these drops of fall down. Our life is just as like that – our life is uncertain. Every time you go outside, you must walk with death in your pocket (nobody can guarantee that you will return).

শ্রবণ, কীর্ত্তন, স্মরণ, বন্দন,
পাদসেবন দাস্যরে ।
পূজন, সখীজন, আত্মনিবেদন,
গোবিন্দ দাস অভিলাষ রে ॥৪॥

sravana, kirtana, smarana, vandana,
pada-sevana dasya re
pujana, sakhi-jana, atma-nivedana,
govinda dasa abhilasa re [4]

‘Govinda Das hankers to engage in the nine practices of devotion: listening about the Lord, chanting the Lord’s Names, remembering the Lord, praying to the Lord, serving the Lord’s feet, serving the Lord as a servant, worshipping the Lord, serving the Lord as a friend and submitting oneself to the Lord.’

(Sri Govinda Das)

There are nine types of devotion: sravanam (listening about the Lord), kirtanam (chanting the Lord’s Name and glories), smaranam (remembering the Lord), pada-sevanam (serving the Lord’s lotus feet), archanam (worshipping the Lord’s Deity), vandanam (offering obeisances and prayers to the Lord), dasyam (serving the Lord as a servant), sakhyam (serving the Lord as a friend), atma-nivedanam (submitting yourself to the Lord). When Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlad Maharaj, ‘What is the highest thing you have learned at school?’ Prahlad Maharaj answered that the highest thing he had learned was this nava-vidha bhakti (nine-fold devotion). He was only five years old at that time.

So, this is the highest engagement in life – to listen to and to chant the glories of the Lord, to take the Name of the Lord. That is the only aim in life. Sravanam, kirtanam and good association are our main goal in life. This is what we need in our lives the most.

[His Divine Grace chants ‘Jaya Radha Madhava’ and concludes kirtans with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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Length: 90 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Perfect Mood
2) What Are You Doing With Your Life?
3) Sell Your Heart
4) Tottering Intelligence
5) Escaping Maya
6) Two Important Questions
7) Embracing the Fortune